Combination skirt and culottes



' Sept. 12, 1944. P, RY 2,358,156

COMBINATION SKIRT AND CULOT'IES Fil ed on. 28, 1940 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 12, 1944 UNITED STATES rarely-'1 OFFICE COMBINATION SKIRT AND GULOTTES- I I Alberta P. Frye, Evanston, Ill; Application October 28, 1940, Serial No. 363N96- (Cl. 2,7 1),- Y

3' Claims.

' The invention. relates to a woman garment and more particularly to a complete skirt and culottes which is so designed that. the culottes arenotapparent to the observer when the front of the. skirt is buttoned, or otherwise fastened, with the result thatthe garment may be worn as astreet dress or as culottes for sportswear.

It is an object of 'the'invention to provide a garment which is dressy and may be worn with propriety inthe city and other places where the wearing of such a, dress is prescribed by good taste, but which upon unfastening the front of the skirt will disclose culottes suitable for vigorous and comfortable sportswear in the country or the like. However, even when the dress is fastened, the wearer has much more freedom of motion than in the ordinary skirt.

Another object is to provide such a garment in which the culottes are completely disguised when the garment is worn as a skirt so that it is substantially impossible for the observer to detect that the wearer does not have on the ordinaryskirt worn with street dresses, suits or the like.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the detailed description and disclosure in the drawings, or are inherent in the novel construction.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a dress provided with a skirt embodying the invention in which a part of the skirt is pulled away to reveal the culottes.

Fig. 2 is a rear view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a perspective rear view of a skirt embodying the invention with the skirt slightly folded to show the construction more clearly.

Fig. 4 is a perspective rear view of the dress before the pleats have been sewn together.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on th line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of two of the sections of the material before they have been pleated and sewed into the garment.

Referring more particularly to the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing the skirt is shown generally at I as being attached to a shirtwaist or blouse 2. This shirtwaist or blouse may be either sewn to or made integral with the skirt, or ma be entirely separate therefrom, as desired.

The skirt is preferably made of four sections 3, of substantially the same size and pattern (Fig. 6). The top 4 and bottom 5 of each section are substantially parallel with one edge 6 flaring outwardly and downwardly and'the other edge 1 being cut straight downfrom the top and curving at 8 at about its middle to provide part of the crotch and. then. out traight downward-at le'to the bottom edge. Twoof these sections are used to form the front of the skirt and two are 'used to form the back, although theadjoining front and back sections might be cut from one piece if desired. In makingthe skirt the two front sections} and III are pleated at H and I2 near'their inner edges, button holes l3 being cut in one pleat andbuttons i l-being sewn on the other whereby to provide means 7 for fastening. the ".skirttogether when' de sired.

The two pieces are sewn together. on edges I as far as the lowermost point of parts 8 to form seam IE on the front of the skirt, said seam l5 being centrally located and directly behind or aligned with the buttons when the skirt is fastened together.

The two rear sections l6 and I1 are then attached to the front sections by sewing the cor-' responding edges 6 together to form a seam S on each side of the skirt. Section I6 is folded to form two knife pleats l8 and H3 adjacent the edge I in such a manner that the outer edge of pleat I9 extends beyond and overlaps the edge 1 of the section of material after it is formed, the edge 1 being the inner edge of this pleat.

Section" is provided with a pleat 2B, the inner edge of said pleat being the edge 1 of said section and also being overlapped by pleat Hi. The con-. tiguous edges 1 of the two sections are then sewn together to form seam 2| shown in dotted outline in Fig. 2. Pleats l8, HI, and 20 are of substantially the same width and contiguous to each other. As the edge of pleat I9 is in the middle of the back, the seam 2| is offset from the middle the space of one pleat, as shown in Fig, 2.. The pleats l8, l9 and 20 are sewn to the skirt about half way down from the waist or top of the skirt and from there on are free. The edge of pleat I8 is hence approximately over the seam 2|. The seam 2| being offset from the middle of the back of the skirt, the crotch 23, which is formed by a continuation of or joining seam 2| with seam l5 in the center of the skirt through the curved portions 8 after the edges 1 have been joined to form the seam l5 at the front and the seam 2| at the back, and the edges I have been joined to form the leg openings, is slightly biased or angularly disposed from front to rear (see Figs. 2 and 4). The lower portion of the seam 2| being free, when the skirt is worn it will tend to be pulled slightly toward the-center of the rment 50 that the biased crotch becomes sub- I6, Ill and H, respectively, are sewn together to form seams Z, which are the'inner seams of the culottes.

When the dress is unbuttoned the trousers or f v p culottes provide added freedom of movement, and

a garment having front and back sections with the front sections adapted to overlap, means for attaching the front sections together to form a closed skirt thereat, a longitudinal seam in the middle of the front section, a longitudinal seam in but offset from the middle of said back section,

- a biased crotch connecting said front and back seams to form separate leg portions, and a pleat inthe back section overlap-ping the seam in said back section to obstruct the division between the leg portions.

2. A combination skirt and culottes comprising i a garment having front and back sections joined when the dress is buttoned, the culottes cannot be detected when the wearer is walking, no matter how long her strides. This is due to the pleats crotch. However, even though the skirt is re tained buttoned,.it permits much greater freedom and comfort than ordinary skirts, due to the novel construction and arrangement of the rear of. the skirt. From the rear it appears that the dress is merely pleated'and presents the appearance of a'street dress when so arranged. Furthermore, when the dress is buttoned in front, although quite .a large amount of material goes into the culottes they do. not become baggy with consequent discomfort to the wearer. Of course other means to fasten the dress in front may be used. As shown, the back pleats l8,. l9 and 20 are sewn to the skirt fronithe top to a little above thelcrotch andfrom'thereon down are free.

' xHaving nowdescribed my invention, I claim:

and to the biased or angular arrangement of the by longitudinal seams, pleats provided on the front sections and adapted to be joined when 'worn as a skirt, a biased crotch joining the longitudinalseams to form separate leg portons, and

pleats provided on the back sections with one of saidlast mentioned pleats being so constructed and disposed as to, overlap the back seam and separation between said leg portions. v,

3. A combination skirt and culottes compris-f ing a garment having a longitudinal seam in the middle of the front and three pleats in 'thejback, the middle pleat containing a longitudinal seam' spaced from the middle ofv the back, a biased crotch joining saidseams to formseparate leg portions, the upper portions of said pleats being sewn to the garment and the lower portions being 1. A combination skirt and culottes comprising free whereby when the garment isworn one. of

the pleats will obstruct the open space through the garment. V ALBERTA P. FRYE. 

